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Idia Shroud was absolutely bored out of his mind. For the first time in forever, he wasn’t entertained at all.
Which was odd, because he usually – always – finds glee in watching other players’ avatars self-combust in death. Now, as his avatar slashed an opponent’s health bar to zero, he blinked at the “YOU WIN!” message etched in gold that flashed across his screen, unimpressed.
“GG, I guess.”
“Nii-san?” Ortho, his beloved younger brother, looked up. Idia had designed new foot armor for him on a whim because of his boredom, and Ortho was currently admiring the sleek design. “Is everything alright?”
Idia swivelled in his chair. “FRS.”
For sure.
Ortho was not convinced. He’s seen out of the corner of his eyes the number of times Idia kept challenging the same NPC. Over. And over again. He was growing concerned.
“Really, Nii-san?”
Idia mulled. Thumbs up. Then swiveled back around to challenge the same NPC again.
Oh dear.
Idia didn’t even notice that his brother had stood up from his spot and fluttered out of the dorm, so engrossed was he in his mindless gaming.
Half an hour passed of this before–
Ping!
Muscle Red had sent him a DM!
Idia enthusiastically sat up straight in his chair and clicked on the notification. After days without an answer, he finally received one!
[GLOOMURAI] wanna co-op that new RPG? (Sent 3 days ago)
[MUSCLE RED] Apologies for the late response. I had some… “IRL” things going on.
Huh. Idia pursed his lips. Quite unusual, but it happens. In fact, NRC had a huge thing going on, too. He couldn’t access his gaming monitor at all; Ortho had dragged him around the event for some “fresh air.”
It was anything but fresh air, though! He was in turmoil, thinking about how worried Muscle Red could be at his lack of response, but it seemed like they were both in the same boat.
Regardless, his heart sped up at the notification, and his face felt warm.
[GOOMURAI] LOL, np. me 2
[MUSCLE RED] Which RPG are you referring to?
[GLOOMURAI] the new one up on the market. i believe it’s called “Cook to Survive.”
[GLOOMURAI] which, BTW, is such a predictable game title, but i don’t judge. reviews say it’s GOOD
[MUSCLE RED] I’m not so sure I’d thrive on a game that involves cooking…
[GLOOMURAI] ?
[MUSCLE RED] I’m not…
[MUSCLE RED] I’m not particularly skilled in cooking.
[GLOOMURAI] oh, that’s alright. it also involves sword fighting. it’s a two-in-one. one cooks; one fights. if ur not good w/ cooking, u can protect the cooking base!
[MUSCLE RED] Count me in.
Idia smirked to himself. Nailed it.
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“Cook to Survive” was a stressful RPG. SUPER STRESSFUL. The reviews were gaslighting everyone!
[Watch out!], Muscle Red typed quickly in the chat, his avatar impaling an eldritch horror-looking monster with ease. Unfortunately, another monster pushed Muscle Red’s avatar out of the way and went running straight to the two’s tiny cooking cottage.
Idia almost jumped out of his seat at the hyper-realism of it all. The trailers showcased it as a 2D, third-person game, but this could almost be 4D with the insane graphics. Worst of all, it was a first-person game!
How had they not yet been sued for incorrect advertising?!
Idia rushed to the back door of the cottage and pulled a short sword from his inventory, slashing the monster twice before it crumpled to the floor. Its corpse twitched.
[YUCK] Gloomurai typed in chat. [0 stars]
[I think this game is quite fun.] Muscle Red said in chat. [It’s unpredictable. It reminds me of the battlefield.]
Odd thing to say, but okay. [yeah. i’m js mad at the false advertising]
Muscle Red crouched his avatar twice before moving to dissect the corpse. Idia promptly turned away.
They received a short break, one that was meant to clean up the corpses that stubbornly didn’t dissipate into thin air, fix the cottage, and expand their menu based on their collected materials.
The premise of “Cook to Survive” was quite simple. On paper.
One player manages the cottage that also acts as a restaurant, feeding and collecting revenue from customers. The other player protected their base from the monsters lurking in the forest behind the cottage.
Except this game’s difficulty changed every second!!! If business was slow, then two players could help protect the base and get more items. But if it wasn’t, then only one player could work on the rush!
And don’t get him started on the random boss fights that happened minutes before their round ended, the customers that ended up scamming him to oblivion, and the sixty different tasks they had to complete.
Utterly stressful. He had even thrown three dishes to customers in the midst of his rush to support Muscle Red with a boss.
But it was fun. He admired Muscle Red’s tendency to stay level-headed while facing the worst possible scenarios.
Idia blushed. He still hadn't gotten used to the weird physical reactions he felt to anything Muscle Red did. He must be getting sick.
Gloomurai and Muscle Red played five more rounds (that lasted about thirty minutes each) before Muscle Red called it a night.
[GLOOMURAI] thanks for playing this with me, BTW
[GLOOMURAI] i’ve been bored out of my mind. had lots of IRL things going on. this was a nice change of pace
[MUSCLE RED] Likewise.
[MUSCLE RED] My faithful friend.
[GLOOMURAI] yeah, OFC. ur my one and only trusted companion.
They bid each other goodnight.
But it didn’t sit right with Idia. Yeah, Muscle Red calls him that a lot, but he usually isn’t the one calling it quits so early.
Lately, he has been doing that. They still had the rest of the night.
Perhaps he just had more IRL things to worry about.
Idia thought about Muscle Red and the possibility that he was growing bored with Gloomurai for a long while, worry gnawing at his lips.
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After this gaming session, Idia was noticeably happier (after ranting to Ortho about the egregious new RPG of doom and despair that he and Muscle Red played).
He was humming.
He actually left his room to grab a drink.
And he was smiling a lot more than usual.
Idia was swiveling in his chair when Ortho mentioned it. “You seem happier today, Nii-san.”
“Oh, yeah!” Idia preened. “I mean, I played with Muscle Red. It’s been a while.”
Because you dragged me out to “socialize”, goes unsaid, but Ortho giggles.
He’s glad he had fun, yes. But for once he’d like Idia to actually socialize. Not just with his internet friends. But, in person.
He hummed in thought.
This idea stuck with him even as he prepared to head to Diasomnia. Malleus Draconia, the Diasomnia Housewarden, wanted something technological fixed. He was planning to send them instructions for them to figure it out on their own. Instead, he decided to go personally, for no particular reason.
“Ugh,” Idia groaned. Ortho turned to him. “Nii-san?”
“Lilia Vanrouge bricked his tablet again,” He muttered into his hands. “I don’t have time to fix it; I’m in the middle of an important mission!”
’And, I don’t want to see that guy.
Ortho hummed. Whatever Malleus wanted fixed must be Lilia’s tablet. “I can do it for you, Nii-san. I was already planning to head to Diasomnia anyway.”
Idia turned to him, a grateful smile glowing on his face. “Thanks.”
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The Disaomnia dorm is surprisingly quiet when he floats inside. Lilia is already waiting for him, a dejected-looking tablet in his hands. He lights up at Ortho’s appearance, walking towards him.
“Ortho Shroud! I fear this modern device has defeated me.”
Ortho whirred before he took it from Lilia’s hands. “What seems to be the issue?”
“Well, it works fine. However, I can’t access the majority of its functions.”
Ortho flipped it. Didn’t look like it was damaged.
He pressed on the screen. It turned on normally.
Oh. He caught it. The three wifi bars were gray.
“It seems like it’s disconnected from the internet. That’s why you can’t access much of its functions.”
Lilia looked fascinated by this discovery. Honestly, it wasn’t much, but Ortho still preened. “Is that so?”
The cyborg nodded. “I’ll show you how to connect.”
It was simple, really. He showed him where to go in the settings. Then, the different available networks, and which one Lilia should connect to the next time this happens. Assured it connected automatically.
“Here.” Ortho handed the tablet back to its owner. “Test it out.”
Lilia nods cheerfully and mindlessly clicks on a gaming app, and when it opens with no issues, he turns to Ortho and thanks him. As Ortho is continuing sweet pleasantries with the other, he catches something in the corner of his eye–
[YOU HAVE THREE MESSAGES FROM ‘GLOOMURAI’]
The notification disappeared almost immediately.
Gloomurai. Wasn’t that his nii-san’s gaming handle?
He didn’t mean to read it. He literally couldn’t help but see it. His eyes widened, and Lilia tilted his head. Ortho had stopped speaking.
“Is something wrong, Ortho?”
Ortho kicked himself out of his stupor and furiously shook his head. “Nothing. Is there anything else you need help with?”
The Diasomnia resident stared at him for a while with a barely perceptible frown before laughing. “No, that would be all. Thank you for helping me, Ortho.”
“Of course.”
He floats up straight and is planning to quickly get out of there– what is he supposed to do with the information that his nii-san’s online best friend is LILIA VANROUGE?-- but hesitates.
“Lilia-senpai?”
“Hm?”
“...” He slowly turned around. “May I ask you something?”
Lilia chuckled at the question. “Of course.”
“… Is Gloomurai someone important to you?”
Ah. Lilia couldn’t help but smile. Ortho had seen the notification, and now he was curious. He didn’t hesitate with his response, saying softly, “Very.”
Ortho’s eyes dilated slightly. Lilia continued, “We’ve known each other for quite some time. Hmm… I look forward to hearing from him every evening. He’s helped me with getting the gaming thing right. He’s a delightful conversationalist. Gloomurai is important to me, yes.”
And he… almost liked him.
Lilia closed his eyes.
That was a ridiculous thought.
He had lived for centuries. Yet somehow a sarcastic gamer who typed in lowercase had become the person he looked forward to hearing from every evening.
Oh.
That was worse than “almost.”
Ortho almost hesitates with his next inquiry. “Have you ever wondered who he really is?”
Lilia’s smile faltered for a moment.
Well, he kind of would like to meet Gloomurai in person.
But they hadn’t yet shared personal contact information. They met through gaming, so he supposed it would’ve made more sense that they stayed on the game messaging platform than to exchange that information.
But… he had a feeling that Gloomurai liked the anonymity. And Lilia himself felt the same way. Had they met in person, it could’ve possibly made him lose his gaming buddy.
Also, it seemed like they both lived somewhere far too remote.
So, Lilia simply responded, “If he wished me to know, he would tell me. I quite enjoy meeting him exactly as he is,” and left it at that.
Ortho was sold.
“You know, Lilia-senpai, you should hang out with Idia.”
The statement was so shocking that Lilia staggered back a bit. “Idia?”
“Yeah. I heard he was looking to play a two-player game with someone. If you’re into gaming, perhaps you should play with him,” Ortho said innocently.
Lilia frowned. He had just been thinking about that. Recently, he had to keep ending his gaming session with Gloomurai early because he kept hearing about that. He searched for hours for a game he thought would be particular to Idia’s unknown tastes every time he logged off, because others kept bothering him about it and it kept gnawing at his conscience.
That was a possibility. But… Hm.
“I’ll consider it,” He said with finality. “What game?”
“I think it’s called ‘Cook to Survive.’”
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The meeting with the Head Director was a success.
Ortho wasn’t particularly fond of spreading his nii-san’s business out like that. But… he had an inkling that his brother lacked the self-esteem to think that Muscle Red would enjoy him as a real person rather than some online gaming buddy.
If his theory was correct, though…
Lilia would love to meet Idia. You know, after knowing this, he was a dear friend to him.
At least, he hoped so.
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Lately, it seemed like Night Raven College was hosting more events than usual. Today was one of those more frequent days when Crowley proudly hosted another event at the last minute, and Idia was hoping this would result in the event’s downfall.
It did not.
Even worse, it was a COOKING COMPETITION. Just some. RANDOM COOKING COMPETITION. IN A PRETTY FORESTED AREA.
Idia audibly groaned, alongside many other students. His heart still fluttered erratically from the horrors of “Cook to Survive” just hours earlier, and unfortunately, he didn’t have his trusty gaming friend, Muscle Red, to help him out and boost his morale.
He shook his head. Gosh, he was experiencing butterflies just thinking about Muscle Red again!
It was as if the universe heard his whining. Crowley clapped for no particular reason on top of his podium before continuing.
“As future leaders of society, you must learn that success relies not only on individual skill, but also on cooperation, adaptability, and strategic thinking! Therefore, today's Inter-Dorm Culinary Survival Competition shall test your ability to prepare cuisine under pressure while defending your establishment from monsters! ”
“...Bro.”
Nearby, Ace Trappola asked, “So… a cooking battle?”
“Precisely!”
The next of Crowley’s words went in one ear and out the other.
Idia watched with absolute fear as Crowley plunged a hand into an enchanted bowl, pulling slips of parchment one by one.
Randomly assigned teams. Okay, great. Fate hated him and his desire to be a loner nerd boy.
“First team!” Crowley beamed. He unrolled each tiny parchment roll and began calling out names. “Riddle Rosehearts, Jack Howl, Jade Leech, and Silver.”
Safe. Alright, not him. Idia’s shoulders almost sagged with relief.
“Second team!” More names. “Third team!” More names. “Fourth team!” Still safe. He almost started believing luck existed. He crossed his fingers and hoped either that Crowley would skip over his name or that his parchment would accidentally burst into flames and take the entire event down with it.
“Fifth team! Idia Shroud…”
He celebrated too soon. Idia felt his entire body go cold. Oh no.
“Lilia Vanrouge…”
OH NO.
“Ortho Shroud…”
Idia was distraught.
“… and Kalim Al-Asim.”
Crowley continued reading the members of the final teams while Idia’s soul quietly evacuated his body.
“Excellent!” Crowley finally, finally, finished. “All teams, please make your way to your respective kitchen cottages!”
Ortho immediately hopped his way. “What a coincidence, nii-san, that this event is just like that one game you were playing with Muscle Red!”
“It is not,” Idia deadpanned. “The universe saw me enjoying ‘Cook to Survive’ despite its incorrect marketing and immediately spawned a side quest that completely derailed my love for the game.”
Ortho tugged on his arm. “Nii-san, maybe you’ll make new friends!”
Depressed, Idia sighed. “I’d rather fight a boss underleveled.”
Though there was an advantage to having four players instead of two, like the RPG. If he was fearfully predicting with accuracy the difficulty of this event, then more hands on deck would be very helpful.
Lilia approached their station with the leisurely pace of someone taking an afternoon stroll rather than preparing for a competition; much unlike his companion, Kalim, who hurried over with his usual bright grin, though every few seconds his gaze would dart toward the forest behind the cottages before snapping back to the group.
“My, my,” Lilia chuckled. “What an interesting assortment of teammates.”
“Lilia,” Idia grumbled, but didn’t say much more than that. He was still particularly salty about Lilia’s cheers for his death when he got kidnapped to be a Ghost Groom.
”Give her the ol’ smoocharoo.”
”Dude, I will literally DIE if we smoocharoo.”
”Smooch that ghost! Smooch that ghost!”
He shivered just thinking about it!
“This will be fun!” Kalim cheered, and Ortho, his precious brother, whirred and floated in agreement.
“Define ‘fun.’”
“Cooking with everyone!”
“Wrong answer.”
Lilia laughed at his response. “Oh? You don’t enjoy cooking.”
Idia glanced at Lilia in exhaustion. “I enjoy watching my avatar cook. IRL, I feel having just one thing that can do it for me would be more OP than having to do it myself.” he spread his arms out like displaying something. “Thus, my trusty ‘All-in-One-Cookinator.”
Before anyone could say their opinion on the matter, Crowley enhanced his voice for all to hear. “When the whistle blows, each team shall receive a recipe.”
A magical projection appeared overhead. It looked suspiciously like… a game HUD.
“No way,” he whispered.
“To obtain ingredients, competitors must venture further into the forest. There are monsters. There are item drops. There are timed objectives. There are customer satisfaction ratings. The monsters will be technological bots offered by our gracious Ignihide dorm, and customers will be the students not called into teams. Whichever team kills the most monsters and receives the best reviews wins!”
Idia slowly turned towards the sky and closed his eyes. He never remembered agreeing to contribute to this. Crowley must’ve been asking around and managed to gather up enough to plan this. Or…
He glanced suspiciously at Ortho. His younger brother only beamed at him innocently before saying, “Whoa, this is just like ‘Cook to Survive’!”
Idia almost shit his pants. OF COURSE IT WAS.
“‘Cook to Survive?’” Kalim lifted an eyebrow curiously.
“Just a game.” Idia was sweating bullets as he pulled his brother to him and waved away his statement with a strained grin. “So who’ll stay cooking and who’ll protect the base?”
“I’d prefer staying with the cooking,” Kalim added nervously, scratching his cheek. “I’m not particularly inclined to fight.”
Idia nodded. No hate, he wasn’t inclined to such things either.
“I’m not sure I would thrive with cooking,” Lilia responded. “I’m not particularly skilled in cooking.”
“Well, that’s OK,” Idia said in a rare moment of understanding between him and Lilia. “You can protect the cooking base–”
“With Nii-san!” Ortho cut in. “I can help Kalim-senpai with cooking, while you two can help defend the cottage and gather materials!”
Okay, well. It wasn’t something he was particularly excited about. He shot his brother a rather betrayed look before he shrugged at the prospect. “Sure, I guess. Time to touch grass, or whatever.”
Lilia grinned and said, “Count me in.”
Idia paused.
Huh.
For some reason, the phrase settled strangely in his mind, like he'd heard it somewhere before.
Before he could chase the thought any further, Crowley's whistle shrieked across the field, and Idia moved from his spot to dash to the weapon crate that was just outside the back door of the cottage.
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The whole thing started uneventfully. Everyone was getting used to the new situation and the fact that “slain” tech monsters were mostly just hallucinations that dropped actual ingredients. Idia spent most of his time half-assing his attacks, his mind mostly wandering to the schematics on how everything was working.
Meanwhile, Lilia was actually trying. He grumbled as he sliced down another monster. “Honestly, are you even trying, Idia?”
Idia scoffed but didn’t respond. A tiny hallucinated monster rushed up to him, and he just lazily kicked it. When it toppled to the ground, he crouched down and stabbed it to the ground with his short sword.
It disappeared and left a pile of carrots just as Idia responded with a “Of course I am.”
Another monster, much more brutish than the earlier mobs, moved in from Idia’s left, and he yelped away as it attempted to maul him. Lilia moved in closer and struck it from behind with its axe. Unfortunately, that didn't work, and it only spun around and pulled the axe out with ferocity.
“OMG,” Idia hissed. “LILIA. YOU DON’T K.O. IT LIKE THAT.”
Lilia rolled back and pulled out a sword that rested on his hip to replace his lost axe. “Then?”
“ITS SHOULDERS,” He instructed as he practically hid behind a tree. “ATTACK ITS SHOULDERS.”
Lilia was confused at first, but upon closer inspection of the monster, he realized the Ignihide student was right. Its back was well fortified with thick scales. Its entire body was, actually.
Except its shoulders. From far away, Lilia couldn’t tell, but since it materialized inches away from Lilia, he must’ve noticed much faster.
Lilia made quick use of the advice, dashing behind the monster and double slashing each shoulder, which did the trick.
The arms clattered to the floor first, before the rest of the body fell with it. A quick poof, and beets rolled to Lilia’s feet.
The pink-eyed man huffed before looking at his companion. “Thanks.”
Another gaggle of monsters appeared.
Now, it was getting interesting. Each monster that they encountered seemed to be of a tougher difficulty than the previous, and each looked more and more like a horrific beast. Thankfully, unlike “Cook to Survive,” no random boss fights happened.
The two were already getting the hang of it– moving in sync and giving useful instructions and advice to one another. Of course, Lilia continued to give him snarky remarks (like, “Just give up, you look unmotivated.”) or to call him an old man while taking out enemies with ease, which obviously made Idia frown (he didn’t even look older than 20).
Despite the perilous circumstances, Idia was feeling comfortable around him. Almost like how he did with…
Sweat was beginning to shine on Lilia’s brow as he took down another enemy with a quick slash of his recovered axe, grinning. “Woo-hee!”
Somehow, that was Muscle Red laughing.
“You prioritize the little ones,” Lilia panted, pointing to a group of little eldritch monsters that were making their way to the group.
“Got it, Red.” Idia did a thumbs-up as he moved to slash them.
Suddenly, a loud crack rang through the field. The two paused. Trees snapped at a considerable distance away from them. Two weird-looking horrors were snapping trees near the cottage.
Oh no.
Kalim and Ortho couldn’t defend against that– last time he went to drop off materials, he caught them in a rush, trying to feed the dozens of students who waited outside their establishment with mischievous grins.
Immediately, Muscle Red dashed over to the monsters and engaged in battle with them. Jeez, this guy was OP! It took a bit longer for Idia to catch up, and by the time he did, Muscle Red was already making quick work of one of them, his axe halfway through the monster’s torso. The other monster, though, sidestepped him, huffed, and began to run to Idia, planning to ram him over.
“Watch out!” Muscle Red yelled out just as Idia slashed the monster twice before it crumpled to the floor. Its corpse twitched.
He watched it twitch before disappearing, eyebrows furrowed. Hm.
Distracted, he didn’t notice that something was creeping behind him until he felt foul, hot breath climb up his neck. Alarmed, he turned around and yelped at a rapidly descending hand!
“GLOOMURAI!”
The creature’s claws carved through the air where Idia’s head had been a fraction of a second before. An axe cut through its head as another body slammed into him.
They hit the ground hard.
Idia’s shoulder bounced painfully against the grass as someone wrapped an arm around him to keep him from rolling into the monster’s path.
Something warm and surprisingly light was pressed against his shoulders. Idia blinked. Pink-black hair. A familiar laugh, cut short by heavy breathing.
…
Lilia.
The fae pushed himself upright, frowning. “What were you thinking, Gloomurai!?”
Idia didn’t answer. Instead, he stared.
“You stopped moving. You don’t do that on a battlefield!”
Idia had his mouth agape like a dead fish. Then, he closed it.
He frowned.
“Idia?”
“...”
Lilia peered closer at Idia’s expressionless eyes.
“Lilia.”
“Yes?”
His voice came out much quieter this time.
“What… did you just call me?”
Idia’s brain short-circuited as Lilia’s frown turned into blankness. Flashes of their earlier conversations sparked in his mind.
Meanwhile, Lilia was taking in Idia’s expression. His pink eyes darted left and right, taking in his features.
Oh no.
He had just gotten into the heat of the moment, the comfortableness, the easiness of it all, that when he called the Ignihyde Housewarden – whom he wasn’t even particularly fond of, anyway – the name of his closest, favorite co-op partner, he didn’t even double-think it.
“Nothing.” Lilia was quick to get off Idia’s build, which was a good fall cushion.
A beat.
“Forget about it.”
Another beat. Lilia pretended the grass below them was more interesting than Idia’s turmoil.
“It slipped.” The excuse left his mouth before he could stop it.
… He winced. That was the least convincing thing he’s said all week.
“I don’t suppose you’re going to forget that.”
Idia sat up and stared at him, incredulous. “No.”
Then, he let out a little squeak that made Lilia look up, only to see his face bright red and his hair a raging, flustered bonfire.
“Muscle… Red?” He tested out, softly, unsure.
This time, Lilia’s face warmed. He blinked. Once. Twice.
Then, a laugh escaped him, sounding incredulous.
“Oh-” He said between giggles, trying desperately to smother them with a palm. “Is that actually you, Gloomurai?”
He didn’t know why he was laughing. This whole situation wasn't particularly funny. It was just so– unlikely! His favorite co-op partner, being the grumpy Idia Shroud who still held a tiny grudge for chanting him on to kiss his ghost bride?
“Oh dear,” Lilia finally choked out after a few more fits of giggles. “How wonderfully absurd.”
Wonderfully absurd indeed. Though… now that Gloomurai was here, in front of him, in the flesh…
He worried he would lose him just as he found him.
Gloomurai had always seemed most comfortable hidden behind a username and an avatar. If learning his identity meant that comfort disappeared... if tonight became the last time they ever played together...
Lilia wasn't sure he'd blame him.
Just as he thought this, he heard Idia groan.
“You…” The pink-haired saw Idia bury his face in his hands. “I have to transfer schools.”
“What?”
“You know all my cringe.”
Lilia blinked, eyes widening. “... Idia. No. ”
“You’ve seen me spam ‘GG EZ’ unironically.”
“I have. Idia–”
“And you know about the gacha banner that I grinded for and ended up crashing out in tears because of it. And–”
Lilia butted in before the other could speak more. “You did tell me about that. You also–” Idia looked up from his palms to see a conflicted look passing between Lilia’s eyes. “Called me your one and only trusted companion.”
If one could get redder than red, Idia would be a good example of that. “OMG… and you called me your faithful friend. I’m actually going to perish,” and he shoved his face back into his palms, muttering to himself.
“It made me very happy.”
Idia snapped his head up. “Huh??”
Lilia shifted, crossing his legs and placing his palms on his knees. His stomach twisted into knots. “You never once said anything online that made me think less of you… In fact, I rather liked getting to know you.”
“As Gloomurai, though,” He sneered.
“Idia?”
“That’s the issue,” Idia pressed on. Now his voice had adopted a grave tone. He flung his hands wildly while he looked for the words. “You’re Lilia Vanrouge. I’m Idia Shroud, a nerd gamer boy who hates social interactions. Plus, we don’t even like each other! How could you be Muscle Red, my closest friend, when we don’t even like each other IRL?”
Then, so soft Lilia almost missed it, he whimpered, “We only got along when we didn’t know who the other really was.”
The smile vanished from Lilia’s face. It failed to return.
Silence. The joy of seeing Gloomurai in person deflated. For the first time that afternoon, he felt genuinely taken aback.
He had expected embarrassment.
Not heartbreak.
“Do you…” He laughed without humor. “Do you truly think I dislike you?” Lilia whispered after a beat of uncomfortable silence.
“Well, OBVS,” Idia scoffed. “We’re not even friends; that’s why I constantly avoid your events. We find each other difficult to handle. You tease me during dangerous situations. That’s 100% dislike!” He raised his hands in exhaustion. “The irony!”
Another pause of uncomfortable silence. Now Idia’s breath was beginning to quicken, and his personal mutterings returned.
“Oh.”
“The irony!”
“I thought you knew I was joking.”
Idia snapped back up. “What.”
“Yeah.”
“I DON’T,” He immediately fired back. “I LITERALLY NEVER KNOW. I–” He laughed self-deprecatingly. “I spend all of my time being a shut-in nerd; I literally wouldn’t! I barely talk to people!!” He breathed. “So how was I supposed to know you weren’t serious?”
Lilia fell silent.
Online, Gloomurai rarely hesitated to ramble about game mechanics for twenty minutes straight. He had teased him back. Complained dramatically whenever his RNG betrayed him. Filled the silence with dry jokes that made Lilia laugh aloud.
Sitting before him now was someone who looked ready to disappear into the ground from embarrassment.
The reason why they clashed was that their personalities were on completely opposite ends of the spectrum: Idia was a deeply anxious, anti-social shut-in, while Lilia was eccentric and extroverted.
Somehow… Lilia had mistaken Gloomurai’s comfort for confidence.
“So that’s why you always disappear after school events. I thought you simply disliked crowds. I didn’t realize you were avoiding me.”
Idia frowned. “What? No, it’s both. I was avoiding everyone because being with everyone always means being in large crowds, and I hate those… but mostly you. Because we found each other difficult. Also, you tease me a lot. It was becoming frustrating.”
Lilia blinked. Idia continued before he could respond. “Oh, and you’re, like, SUPER intimidating. You also barely show any care for me. Remember the Phantom Bride?”
That broke Lilia’s stupor a bit, wincing. “Oh, yeah. That was pretty terrible.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “In hindsight.”
“See? You were literally CHEERING for my death. That’s rough, man. You barely show any care for me.”
Idia was right, Lilia remorsefully admitted to himself. He teased those he was close with, yes, but could that really apply to Idia? Malleus, Silver, Sebek- he teased them, and they didn’t complain. Usually.
… Idia. Somewhere along the way, he’d begun treating Idia as though he already knew he belonged somewhere in that little circle, despite the fact that in person, they had never actually become friends.
Perhaps Gloomurai transcended online personas in some way. It was the only thing he could think of that would make any of this weird, tumultuous thought process make any sort of sense.
“... I see.”
He’d never stopped to wonder whether Idia felt the same. Lilia would just shove the feelings aside.
Lilia pressed both palms against his cheeks with an exaggerated sigh. "Goodness..."
This was unexpectedly difficult.
“Oh,” Lilia gasped. “Ortho.”
“What about my brother?” Now Idia was defensive.
“The day Ortho went to Diasomnia to repair my tablet, he asked whether Gloomurai was important to me.”
Idia froze.
“I told him yes. He then suggested I spend more time with you. By that point, I was already considering it,” He chuckled wryly. “I see now that he was trying to introduce us to each other earlier.”
Idia blinked twice before realization dawned on his face. “He must’ve seen some mention of my username for him to be so adamant about us meeting.”
The pink-haired fae recalled Ortho’s reaction to Gloomurai’s DM. “What makes you say that?”
“It’s just a side quest he’s adamant about completing,” Idia sighed. “Getting us to stop being icy with each other, or whatever. If he saw my username somewhere on your tablet, like, a notification, he must’ve gotten more motivation to go along with it.”
Ah. Lilia chuckled. Yeah, that made sense.
“Do you know why I kept leaving early after gaming sessions?”
Idia shook his head slowly. “… No.”
“I was being asked to spend time with you,” He recalled, rubbing the back of his neck. “I was searching for a game I thought you might enjoy. Though I didn’t know what your preferences were, so I spent most of that time stumped on the search bar.”
Idia felt his face brighten red again.
“… I thought if we had one common interest, then we would finally get along.”
Oh.
Idia internally heard achievement pings blast through his inner psyche.
Congratulations, congratulations, congratulations! Good things must be said three times!
Muscle Red was shortening his game time with Gloomurai to… find ways to hang out with Idia!
His heart did the stupid fluttery thing again.
Oh no.
Perhaps the fluttering of his chest and the constant flushing of his face wasn’t an illness.
How absurd! It caused Idia to instinctively laugh at the prospect.
“OMG,” he choked out. “We already have a common interest— gaming!”
Lilia blinked twice. Then he instinctively laughed as well. “We just didn‘t know it.”
Though Lilia wanted to believe it was over— the uncertainty between their possible new friendship— Idia faltered when Lilia extended his hand to him.
“I thought if we met in person, I'd ruin it.”
“Why?”
“Because,” Idia shrinked and looked away. “Gloomurai is much cooler than I am. Gloomurai doesn’t get tired of constantly fighting, or sweats up a storm around people. And he’s not some sit-in nerd like I am.”
Lilia let out a little smile. He scooted closer, placing a hand next to his knee. Not touching. Just, there. The presence of his hand was enough to make Idia straighten up, just a bit.
“I meant what I told your younger brother.”
“Mmn?”
“I quite enjoyed meeting you exactly as you were. Gloomurai. And,” His eyes softened. “Idia.”
This made him frown. Lilia at this point couldn’t count how many times his words had made red creep up the other’s neck and ears.
“I mean, you two aren’t much different,” The fae noted. “Gloomurai is just the comfortable version of Idia. The one where he’s warmed enough to be… hm. Himself. Without the social anxiety. The version that forgets to be afraid.”
He tapped Idia’s knee. “That’s how I see it. Sometimes your anxiety gets in the way, of course, but… at the end of the day…
“Learning your real identity hasn’t changed much at all. I think I just found another reason to treasure you. You’re still my faithful friend.”
Idia stared at him, mouth slacked. The corners of his lips twitched, and it looked like he was starting to prevent himself from breaking out into a full on smile.
He placed his hand on top of the other.
“I was afraid learning your name would make you disappear."
“I was afraid you’d stop playing with me.”
Then, Idia really did smile.
“Count me in.”
Lilia grinned while raising an eyebrow. “That’s my line.”
“I’ve earned it.”
For the first time, Idia realized he was looking forward to hearing Lilia say his name tomorrow.
Or, even better…
“Wanna co-op ‘Cook to Survive’? At…” He nervously wrapped his fingers around Lilia’s hand. “In… my dorm?”
… Tonight?
“Yes,” Lilia said, cupping a hand over their intertwined ones. “After we kill the monsters surrounding us.”
The other giggled. Picked up his short sword from beside him. “Let’s win this thing, Muscle Red.”
“Count me in, Gloomurai.”